DISCLAIMER: Don't make me repeat this. I do not own HP.

A/N: I'm departing from my usual style of writing and going for a different genre in the first part of this chap. I have never written this type before so if it is horrible, please spare me and let me know whether you love it or hate it. All those who review, leaving a comment on the 1st part of the chap is a must!

Chapter 22.

'There's no use hiding, Miss Black. I know you're there.'

Oh Merlin.

All of a sudden, Bellatrix's till-now steady heart beat stopped for a moment and then sped up and started running at the speed of a racing broom. She felt as if her heart had come up to her throat and for what felt like ages, she remained frozen in her spot. But then, her sleeping Death Eater instincts kicked in and she fiercely quenched the rising dread in her like a wave with a steel wall of nerves. Blinking once or twice, she prepared to come out of her hidey-hole and face the incoming tempest. She quickly evaluated the situation in her mind.

I've got no reason to be here, and Professor Watson's here to meet a Death Eater secretly. He's probably already realised that I'm here to gatecrash and even that I intercepted the letter. This is gonna be difficult to get out of.

'Good to meet you after so long.' a sudden female voice in the room startled Bellatrix who was just about to push open the door of the closet and come out. Stopping midway, she saw a shadowy figure materializing out of thin air. The silvery moonlight fell on the slim figure of a young woman with long chocolate-brown hair which curled out at the edges. She was wearing a long darkish-blue cloak made of some transparent material which fluttered around her feet.

'You know, most people say that I have extraordinary talent with Disillusionment Charms.' mused Delphine. 'It is amazing that you could spot me so easily.'

'I have experience with Disillusionment Charms.' said Professor Watson, his voice not betraying anything going on in his mind. 'There tends to be a slight disturbance in the air when one moves, as I think you know.'

'Of course.' said Delphine quietly, stepping towards the open window. There was something strange in her tone that Bellatrix could not quite identify. But then her voice became casual again. 'You know, I was surprised when you Floo-called me, asking whether I had received your letter or not, and even more so when you insisted on meeting me when you understood that the letter had been intercepted.' Bellatrix shifted uneasily. 'You do realise that more than a few people would be interested to know why a Hogwarts professor would contact….someone like me.'

'Only people outside Hogwarts would do that and they do not have the liberty to barge in on our meeting.' said Professor Watson, again in an emotionless voice. 'Besides, I don't think anyone yet knows about your, for the lack of a better word, 'profession'.' his voice became remarkably cold at the word. 'Most will not be surprised if I corresponded with you.'

At that, Delphine looked at Professor Watson. The molten silver radiance of the moonlight made her strange bluish-green eyes glow in the dark. There it was again, a strange look in her eyes, something Bellatrix could not understand. The look disappeared and Delphine smiled, the same enigmatic smile that she used to give Bellatrix earlier. 'No, I don't think they will be surprised at all.' Unexpectedly, there was no trace of sarcasm in her voice. Bellatrix frowned slightly.

There is something strange going on here. But I can't put my finger on it.

'I have not come here to chit-chat, Miss Delphinus Black.' Professor Watson sounded cold and certain. His voice was exceedingly different than Bellatrix remembered from the time when he praised her DADA assignment. 'I am here on the subject of your little visit last Halloween. You had posed a question to me and I am here to answer it.'

'No beating around the bush and coming straight to the point.' commented Delphine lightly. 'As usual.'

Wait a second, what did that mean?

'So, are you ready to take my answer?' demanded Professor Watson, taking a step forward. He looked like he was preparing himself for something. Delphine walked with her usual grace to the large window. She ran her fingers along the windowsill lightly and replied, gazing at the blemished surface of the moon, 'Well, that depends on whether your answer is different from last time.'

'Reply to me truthfully, do you really expect my answer to change?' Professor Watson asked clearly. His gray eyes told Bellatrix that he already knew what Delphine would answer.

There was complete silence in the room, coupled with a strange tension vibrating in the atmosphere. Delphine paused for what seemed like ages. Her eyes were still fixed on the moon in the night sky. Finally, her voice broke the silence.

'No….Daniel.' Delphine whispered, the sudden familiarity in her tone shocking Bellatrix to the core. Her soft, lightly accented voice made the name sound like 'Dani-yell'. She turned from the window and looked straight at Professor Watson, her eyes glimmering. 'I know you too well to think that you'll change your answer so easily. You've always been the most stubborn person I've ever known.'

What the hell is happening?

Professor Watson did not say a word. In a way, Bellatrix believed that Delphine's sudden change of tone had shocked him as much as it did Bellatrix. Delphine continued, speaking softly, 'But that doesn't mean I can stop hoping, can I?' There was a hardly perceptible note in her voice, one that was inexplicable.

Professor Watson finally raised his eyes to meet Delphine's orbs, looking clear and strong. 'You are forgetting something, Delphine, I know you just as well too. I can understand what goes on in your mind so if you have a drop of common sense left, you know its futile trying to persuade me.'

Delphine's eyes gleamed. 'Oh really? As far as I remember of seventh year, you came the first in DADA and being the past Hogwarts Head Boy, not to mention a fantastic dueler, I didn't expect you to succumb to my Draught of Living Death so easily last Halloween without even putting up a fight.' For a moment, it seemed that she was the old Delphine again, with the traditional sardonic comments and sarcasm.

Bellatrix could see Professor Watson's certainty drop a notch. His gaze shifted from Delphine's eyes to a stone wall behind her. But he spoke, less audibly, slight hesitancy in his grey eyes, 'It was expected. I was shocked to see you standing before me, that too in Hogwarts. It had been…..' Professor Watson stopped.

'Three years.' completed Delphine, her tone slightly reminiscent. 'Since the Graduation Ball in seventh year. You were the one to bid farewell, if you remember.'

'No Delphine.' said Professor Watson quietly, his eyes moving back to looking straight into hers. 'It was never me. You made the choice for me.'

'How so, if I may ask?' Delphine sounded cynical. 'You never considered giving me a chance.' She took a step forward, her clear voice ringing in the room.

'A chance for what?' questioned Professor Watson, a chilly note to his voice. 'To explain? Tell me, what did you want to explain? Your so-called career choice?'

'You knew about it the moment you extended your hand of friendship towards me.' said Delphine, her voice growing soft again, several layers of unfathomable emotions to her voice. 'You knew how I had been brought up, what I was, yet you expected me to do any different?'

'To tell you the truth, yes Delphine.' said Professor Watson harshly, his voice echoing in the stone-walled room. 'I certainly expected you to reject being a…Death Eater. That's what you call yourselves, don't you? In fact, rumor has it that you suggested the name yourself.' his tone was icy to the core.

'Well, I expected you to stay by my side no matter what.' Delphine said almost inaudibly, focusing her bluish-green orbs directly in Professor Watson's eyes. Her words could hardly be heard, just barely above a whisper, yet it was the most expressive tone of voice that Bellatrix had ever heard Delphine use. Her voice radiated such a powerful, confused mixture of emotions that for a moment even Bellatrix was stunned. Delphine took another step forward.

'False promises, were they Daniel?' Delphine said even more quietly, looking eye-to-eye. The musical intonation of her voice again beautifully modified the name into something else. Her voice was restricted, controlled but it seemed to be slowly breaking the barrier and was no longer constrained.

'False promises.' Delphine repeated, her eyes looking penetratingly at Professor Watson's cloudy gray ones. Bellatrix recognised as Delphine purposely let hurt seep through her voice and even more importantly, through her eyes. It slowly leaked out, little by little, as it flooded her eyes and made them almost painful to look at. Bellatrix gazed transfixed as she understood what was going on. Delphine was certainly hurt, there was no doubt about it, that kind of intense pain in the eyes could not be faked. But Delphine was deliberately maximizing the hurt she felt, multiplying it by a hundred times and displaying it clearly, thus manipulating the pain and using it as a weapon. Bellatrix could not help but feel awe at what Delphine was doing, clearly a mistress at the art.

Wow, no wonder I got so inspired by her in my last lifetime.

Delphine took even more steps forward. 'A Gryffindor Head Boy and a Slytherin Head Girl. A sure recipe for disaster. Yet it was the happiest year of my life. But it seems that all of it was a dream, one that is now broken.' Delphine's every word was punctuated by unbelievable feeling, her voice vibrating powerfully as if she was pouring out her heart and soul.

'A delusion, was it? Or a fantasy perhaps? One that was reality to me, but impracticable to you.' Delphine continued taking steps forward, speaking in an apparently forced light tone. 'When I made my decision, I thought you would be there like you promised but you had left.' Delphine's voice grew more and more bitter as she went on but it cracked slightly at the end. All that Bellatrix could do was marvel. It was flawlessly done.

'So now, you're a Professor at Hogwarts or in short, a soon-to-be member of Dumbledore's Order.' said Delphine in a clear, impassive voice. But the next part was spoken in another voice which quivered with hope, 'But something tells me that maybe….all hope is not gone…maybe only if….only if you….' Delphine left off trailing.

'So….I only want to ask you…if….' Delphine's eyes, so very reminiscent of the sea, gazed up persuasively. 'Please, I just want to live the memories again, the happiest ones of my life, the ones of lo-' As she was moving forward, Delphine stopped in her tracks, while Daniel Watson pointed his wand at her, the wood just a few inches away from her face.

'Enough.' Professor Watson's voice echoed in the room, throbbing with hatred and iciness. Bitterness was etched all over his face and his gray steely eyes flashed with anger. 'Just enough. Stop pretending because even if Cassiopeia Black can't understand when you're acting, I can. Your generous offer is on the behalf of the Dark Side, I am well aware of that fact. Living the memories again?' Professor Watson made a sound of scorn. 'Even if I did agree, it wouldn't be possible Delphine.' he took her name with particular contempt, 'because I don't think the Delphine standing before me now is even a degree of what she was before.'

A strange transformation took place in Delphine, from a pleading girl two minutes ago to a woman light-heartedly mocking her enemy. She had shed all her guises. 'Delude yourself as much as you want, Daniel.' Delphine's eyes flashed and unlike Professor Watson, she took his name with a strange pleasure. 'But the truth is, you fell in love with the same evil, cunning Delphine that is standing before you now. And even you know it.' There was now not even a drop of deception in her voice or her eyes.

Delphine took a step forward, Professor Watson's wand now almost touching her nose. She smirked openly, 'Admit it. You loved me: Dark as I am. So you'd better join the right side before it is too late.'

'Well, that's the key point, Delphine.' said Professor Watson cuttingly. 'Loved, as in the past tense. Not anymore and definitely not now.' he pointed his wand straight between Delphine's eyes without hesitation. 'I am going to hand you over to Professor Dumbledore and you are not going to put up a fight.'

Delphine's clear, tinkling laugh resonated in the nightly silence like the chiming of a silver bell. She stopped to gaze back at Professor Watson's eyes, her own sparkling eerily like a cat's eyes in the dark. She smiled joyously, the mirth evident in her voice, 'You really do amuse me sometimes, Daniel. Even if I don't, wait…..what did you call it….oh yes, put up a fight, do you really think you can take me to Dumbledore without a second thought? Without hesitation? Knowing that by doing so you'll send me for eternal torture to Azkaban?' Delphine moved forward so that Professor Watson's wand was only a centimeter away from her. Her smile reflected complete and utter confidence. 'I don't think you have the will power. In fact, I can see the turmoil in your eyes right now.'

Professor Watson heaved a deep breath and closed his eyes. On opening them again, they resembled pieces of granite, hard and inflexible. 'Happy?' he breathed. 'You think I can't hand you over to the Dementors?' he jabbed his wand into Delphine's neck, eliciting a small wince from her. 'Try me.'

For a minute, everything was still, even the gently flowing night breeze. The glint that had been present in Delphine's eyes throughout suddenly vanished, along with all signs of pretense. Delphine's smile dimmed but it still persisted around her lips. She exhaled softly, 'You win, Daniel. You were always smarter than me, never falling for any tricks.' She again beautifully enunciated his name, and sighed. 'Hope Azkaban isn't too bleak for you to keep on visiting me.'

Professor Watson removed his wand from Delphine's neck. For the first time since their meeting, he turned away from her and faced the stone doorway of the small, circular room. His voice was strangely hard as he spoke, 'Don't get killed by anyone else during your battles Delphine, because that honour exclusively belongs to me.' Speaking no more, Professor Watson exited the room. The echoes of his boots walking down the steps could be faintly heard.

Delphine stayed fixed in her spot staring at the doorway. After a few minutes, she started walking towards the exit door but paused just before it. Sending a backward glance to the moon visible through the window, she sighed again. A smile strangely sad in nature started playing around her lips, 'You may not feel love any longer, that much I gathered through your eyes, but there was one trick you always fell for. Deception doesn't work on you but your will always crumbled whenever I was genuine and spoke the truth.' She departed like a shadow from the room.

Bellatrix remained frozen inside the closet, undiscovered by anyone but still in a state of shock. Pushing open the door, she paced towards the window and stared at the moon at which Delphine had been gazing not-so-long ago.

Delphine…Professor Watson…seventh year….Death Eaters…the Order….Professor Watson…Delphine...love… Merlin, my head hurts.

James ran through the corridors of Hogwarts Castle as if the giant spider was after him again. People stared curiously as he sped past them, muttering angrily under his breath and fingering his wand. But he couldn't care less because he had a mission to accomplish, on that definitely could not wait: kill Bellatrix Black as painfully as possible.

'I can't believe it!' exclaimed James suddenly. The sudden yell startled a nearby first-year Hufflepuff girl who began staring fearfully at him. James stalked towards her, 'Can you imagine that Bellatrix Black, a girl in our year, can be so damn cruel that she actually cursed my best mate, her own cousin, so bad that he's hiding under a bed in the Hospital Wing? My best mate!'

'W….we..well…I…' the Hufflepuff girl stuttered badly out of fear. She was about to turn tail and run for her life, when James stepped in front of her, preventing her from leaving, and started ranting again, 'I actually thought she was cool when she talked to McGonagall but now! She deserves to be…aaarrgh, I don't know! My pranks are nothing against hers! She deserves to be humiliated but how? What do you think?'

'I guess….' the Hufflepuff girl looked as unsure as ever and resembled a rabbit trying to spot a way to escape. James groaned, 'Forget it, you're no help!' Dismissing the girl as abruptly as he had jumped on her, James started striding through the corridor again. The Hufflepuff girl fled for her life as James stomped his way through the passage, his brain whirring about the possible pranks he could play on Bellatrix. All seemed destined to fail.

'Why the hell does she have to be so shrewd? There's no way anything I or Sirius can think up that can work against her….ouch!' Midway through his tirade, James knocked into a boy, resulting in the collapse of the tower of books that the boy had been carrying. Cursing hard, James bent down and scooped the books off the floor and was about to hand them over to the boy, 'Here you go, I'm sor…' James paused to see Remus Lupin looking guardedly at him. 'Oh, sorry bout that.'

'It's okay.' Lupin looked as if he was thinking hard about something. 'Just look where you're going next time.'

Nodding his head, James continued making his way through the corridor, but stopped on hearing someone calling out to him. He swiveled around to see Lupin fidgeting with his hands, looking uncomfortable, 'I'm sorry.'

'Erm…it's okay, I guess.' James was confused as to why Lupin was apologizing when James was the one to crash into him first. He turned to proceed when Lupin's voice halted him again. James furrowed his eyebrows. Lupin looked as though he was having an internal battle, 'No, I…I am sorry.'

Something in Lupin's tone told James that he wasn't apologizing for the accident. All of a sudden, it dawned on him and James understood, 'It's okay. It happens sometimes.' James smiled, making it clear that he wasn't referring to the crash.

Lupin visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumping. James's reaction convinced him that he had done the right thing. He smiled faintly at James, 'See you around, Potter.' Saying so, Lupin walked away carefully balancing his tower of library books.

As Remus walked warily with his ton of books, he couldn't help smiling. At the beginning of the year, he would have been shocked to know the thoughts flying through his mind at the present:

'Bellatrix was right. Potter isn't so bad after all.'

A/N: The end of another chapter. Read and review!